Play Helps Children Build Better Brains. Here Are Some Ways to Get Kids Learning 

Play is an important part in any child’s life. But games and play are much more than just keeping a child occupied: The act of play is an essential part of a child’s overall development. Playful interactions with adults help babies develop executive function skills, while older children need unstructured play and down time as their commitments like homework, sports, and clubs complicate their growing lives. Discovering ways to play is important at any age as children grow to find their way in the world, which is why it’s essential adults help encourage that productive play.

The Center on the Developing Child (CDC) recently shared some ways adults can help support brain-building through play. Developed with support from the LEGO Foundation, the toolkits provide suggestions for games and play-based activities based on a child’s age, from babies (6 months) to teens (13–17 years).

Each age range has unique opportunities to encourage different types of play, with underlying developmental benefits and goals along the way. Whether simple suggestions like “hide and seek” to tips on how Dungeons & Dragons can unlock a child’s imagination with strategy and fantasy games, the brain-building through play guide aims to be an essential resource for adults looking to highlight playful learning.

Here are highlights from each age detailed in the CDC’s resources:

Babies at 6 Months
Simple games like “peekaboo!” and “pat-a-cake” help babies practice basic skills like self-control and motor skills. Hiding games — putting an item under a cloth or box and asking them to find it — are also productive ways to play. As the guide notes, it’s important to follow a baby’s lead. Play games they show an interest in, and let them determine how long to play and when to move onto something else.

Babies at 9 Months
Play at nine months helps develop study brain architecture, and imitation is often key in games the CDC suggests. In “baby see, baby do!” adults make simple gestures to a baby and let them copy their actions, while “where is it?” has adults hide an item that makes noise and asks the child to look for it. Games involving imitation and hiding teach babies to focus their attention, use their working memory, and practice basic self-control.

Toddlers at 12 Months
The CDC suggests making a productive game out of toddlers’ natural tendency to put items into a container and dump them out. In “dump and fill,” parents or caregivers should provide toddlers with a number of container types — mixing bowls, boxes, and baskets — and safe items to fill them with like toys and socks. Parents just have to encourage the “fill” part so the toddler cleans up after themselves while helping to develop basic motor skills.

Toddlers at 18 Months
Children at this age begin to understand how to match and sort objects by color or shape, and adults can make their own matching game with colored paper, similarly colored objects, or other groups of toys. Memory games and songs like “The Wheels on the Bus” can help toddlers learn to copy motions and remember sequences, with many found in a variety of different languages and cultures.

Toddlers at 2–3 Years
Active songs with movements provide physical activity and also memory skills. Songs like “I’m A Little Teapot” require children to start and stop or slow down and speed up, helping to build self-control. Imitation games like “follow the leader” let adults hand off play to children and are great tests of working memory, attention, and self-control. The guide encourages adults to let toddlers lead and set the pace of play as much as possible, taking cues from them about when to stop, start, and switch to another activity.

Children at 4–7 Years
Children’s activities like “freeze dance,” “Simon says,” and “I spy” are classics for a reason: They are simple games that children this age can learn quickly while still developing executive function, self-regulation, and physical skills at their own pace. As children grow and develop, the guidance suggests they exercise independence by managing their own games with friends and peers, with adults only stepping in occasionally to sort out disagreements.

Children at 8–12 Years
Children’s play develops in complex and challenging ways as children get older. Crossword puzzles, Sudoku, word finds, and mazes are great brain teasers to challenge kids at this age. Strategy games like Go, Battleship, or Clue help kids build memory skills as they contemplate their next moves and develop mental flexibility in responding to opponents. And fantasy games like Minecraft and Dungeons & Dragons build further on these skills, allowing imaginations to run wild.

Adults should encourage kids to focus on having fun and learning new things, rather than on winning and losing, and to take note of each child’s unique interests and talents as they take shape.

Teens at 13–17 Years
As teens grow, their lives often become busier. Play can help in building executive functioning and self-regulation skills like being adaptable and flexible and controlling impulsive behavior. The activities suggested – playing an instrument, singing and dancing, or joining theater and organized sports – provide a number of positive developments and a sense of belonging.

Unstructured play time and down time is also essential for a healthy balance and can help prevent burnout at that age. Even (a little bit of) video gaming has its benefits according to the research, as gaming helps teens focus, regulate responses to changing situations, and challenge their reaction time.